


Saying Good-Bye

by thespacebetween



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-12
Updated: 2012-04-12
Packaged: 2017-11-03 13:18:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/381753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thespacebetween/pseuds/thespacebetween
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edmure says goodbye to his sister and infant nephew as they leave for Winterfell after the war. (Ficlet written for the <a href="http://mibehl.livejournal.com/53028.html">Catelyn Fic Meme</a>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saying Good-Bye

Edmure was sullen and scowling the day Catelyn rode away. His normally laughing eyes and broad smile had been replaced by glares and pouts. Father had already said his good-byes and retreated back into Riverrun, but Edmure hung back, angry at Cat for leaving but unwilling to see her go. Lysa had already left the previous week to join her husband, Lord Jon Arryn, and now it was Cat’s turn to go and join her husband, Lord Eddard Stark. Edmure didn’t think much of Eddard when he’d met him at Cat’s wedding. Lord Stark did not smile nearly enough for Edmure’s liking.

Catelyn sighed and shifted her babe to her other arm so she could lean down and kiss Edmure on the cheek. He was getting too old for such displays of affection and squirmed away from his sister’s embrace. Edmure didn’t much like the new baby either. Robb, Cat had called it. Cat used to play with Edmure all the time and tell HIM stories. But once Robb came along, she was always busy with the baby, holding it and feeding it and singing to it. Plus, Lysa was in a foul mood after the baby was born, sulking all the time and refusing to play with Edmure. Edmure hated that baby. It took his sisters away from him.

“It’ll be alright, Edmure. When I get to Winterfell, I’ll write you every week and tell you such tales of the untamed north, hardly to be believed. But you’re almost a man grown now, and you will be lord of this castle when Father dies, so come here and say good bye to your sister and nephew properly.”

Chastised, Edmure relented and allowed Catelyn to brush her lips against his cheek.

“Good-bye, Cat,” he mumbled. Catelyn began to pull away, but before she could do so, Edmure wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her dress. “I’m going to miss you, Cat,” he whispered against the fabric of her dress.

“I’m going to miss you too, Edmure,” Cat replied, a sad smile on her face. “But when you’re older, I’ll write to Father and ask him to let you visit me. Lord Eddard will take you to all the best places to hunt and there will be feasting and singing. By then Robb will be older and you can show him how to shoot arrows and fight with swords. Doesn’t that sound nice? This isn’t good-bye forever.”

With that Catelyn settled into her spot in the wagon that would carry her to her new home, her son sleeping in her arms. She was no longer a girl of the riverlands. She was now a lady of the north, but she still felt like Catelyn Tully instead of Catelyn Stark. She had been married for a year and was already a mother, but as she left her brother and Riverrun behind, for the first time she keenly felt the loss of childhood.


End file.
